I too use a thumb drive. I got a 16 GB drive from somewhere and it works like a champ. Since it's only USB 1 it takes a while for me to reload, but with 16 gigs I don't have to do that very often. My car stereo has both the USB input and an aux jack. I only really bought it for the HD radio part (which is nice) but having that USB port has made it totally worth replacing the Pioneer cassette deck that came with the van! Having said all that, I would definitely recommend a SSD over spinning platters. I would expect a failure much sooner when used in a vehicle vs used in a tower or laptop. At least when you're carrying around the laptop with it powered on you try to be careful, when you're driving you're at the mercy of the roads you're driving over and the suspension of you vehicle.

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I've never done either, but I think I'd recommend solid state, in cause you are going over lots of bumps. I suppose you could secure it pretty well, but a hard drive with moving parts could cause issues.

I've had a deck with an auxiliary 1/8" stereo jack (headphone jack) on it for probably close to 10 years. I've used it with a minidisc player, an iPod, a laptop, and a phone. Friends can plug in their devices if they have music we want to listen to on their device.

I too use a thumb drive. I got a 16 GB drive from somewhere and it works like a champ. Since it's only USB 1 it takes a while for me to reload, but with 16 gigs I don't have to do that very often. My car stereo has both the USB input and an aux jack. I only really bought it for the HD radio part (which is nice) but having that USB port has made it totally worth replacing the Pioneer cassette deck that came with the van! Having said all that, I would definitely recommend a SSD over spinning platters. I would expect a failure much sooner when used in a vehicle vs used in a tower or laptop. At least when you're carrying around the laptop with it powered on you try to be careful, when you're driving you're at the mercy of the roads you're driving over and the suspension of you vehicle.